Meanwhile, back at the ranch….the clan and friends have gathered. The weather has been super. The house is filled with love and fun. Only a few nose bleeds due to the 7,000 foot altitude. There’s been horseback riding and 4-wheel drive riding and kids building on their tree house which Malcolm started awhile back….and fishing. I haven’t gone yet cause I’ve been writing but am going Saturday afternoon, weather permitting. The food has been scrumptious.

I hope all my social media friends have had a blessed Thanksgiving as well.

Viva turned 9 the day before Thanksgiving. She requested a mint and chocolate ice cream cake.

Vanessa serving and Malcolm helping out

Here we are (some of us) waiting for the cake. Richard's brother, Roger Perry and his partner, Caroline, in foreground. In pink Judy Keenan, mother of Eddie, Katie and William. Katie is Malcolm's best friend. I like that, at 12, Malcolm's best friend is a girl.

Viva opening my card. There's a young horse on the front and inside it said, "I'd have shouted 'Happy Birthday' but I'm a little hoarse."

Viva's just realized it's an iPad. She's wanted one for a long time.

Viva hugging her iPad

This is the bag for the iPad that Vanessa made for Viva. A moustache on the back, banana yellow straps and…

…on the other side, a kitty. It's lined with shag rug that's like fur. Very cool.

Vanessa, Paul, Viva, Katie and Eddie. William holding Tulea in the background.

Viva has really gotten into moustaches.

Sandra McDonald starting to carve the turkey which she brined for 3 days. Yummy!

10 Comments

Hello Jane,
“May you have warm words on a cold evening, a full moon on a dark night and a smooth road all the way to your door.”
Wonderful happy people about, always interesting to take the peek and look about, in a day in the life. Was just thinking about a short story I wrote once, about a woman in the snow and another woman who was just viewing her from a window.
Everyday the woman would stand in the cold, waiting for the phonebooth to ring, cold just waiting. The window women stoped and took in the view of this everyday event. And than one day the women was gone, and that seemed to have changed the womans life, she had created a world of question about the waiting woman, why and who, what for also who she was, this opened up a new world, a creative one and real change.

Do people really get nose bleeds at 7,000 feet?
Anyways, HAPPY BIRTHDAY VIVA!!!!! I love that you are into mustaches! How fun is that!!! You look very chic with one on! Just remember that when you get older it may not go well at job interviews! Oh, and at 9 mustaches are fun, but at 40 any female facial hair on the face is alarming!

Jane, I just wanted to share something with you. This was a food for my soul and you’re always sharing some so I thought I could share something with you:

Orthodox Jewish goldsmiths work with fantastic precision and their pieces of work are also pieces of art. And yet they always leave at least a scratch on the gold to remind them that only God is perfect and can make no mistakes and that people are entitled to make mistakes and be imperfect.

I think this says lots of things in common with the things I learnt from you so I wanted to tell. I hope it has the same effect on you that it had on me.

Do you still have an Inn in New Mexico? I used to go to the Esser’s Ranch in Florida for water fasting (fabulous!) – did that for 25 years with my Mom (she lived to 93). I would love to do the same at your Inn, if it still exists. Difficult to find a place to escape. Have been to the Canyon Ranch in the Berkshires (it’s ok).